Chris Whiteside's Blog

"Truth is generally the best vindication against slander." (Abraham Lincoln)

A couple of days ago David Aaronovitch had a go at Ed Miliband in "The Times" as I reported in this blog: he was then criticised by John Rentoul. And Nick Cohen has let Miliband have both barrels in the Observer with an article called " Don't look to Ed Miliband for moral leadership ." I've been quoting various other people's positions about Syria without stating my own here so let's come off the fence. I think it has pretty well been proved beyond reasonable doubt that someone murdered fourteen hundred innocent Syrian civilians including women and children with a nerve gas, probably Sarin. It looks extremely probable that the Assad regime were responsible. Subject to making the maximum effort to get at the truth and get as close to having proof before taking action, I think it is highly desirable that the international community takes effective action to ensure that the perpetrators of this atrocity do not benefit from it. A unanimous re...

A blind man was walking up the street with his white stick and guide dog. Hearing another person walk past the blind man asked how close they were to the City Museum. "Next turn on the left and it's another hundred yards on the left" the nearest pedestrian replied. "No, I'm sorry but that's wrong" a second person who heard the exchange replied. "It's second on the right, and then another hundred yards on the left." "Forgive me but you're both wrong" said a third person, "Just carry on in the same direction as you are going and you'll be there in another three blocks." An argument was starting when a policeman came up. "I'm afraid you'll all have to move on" he said, "You're bocking the entrance to the city museum." (Told, probably not in exactly these words, by Canon John Kelly at St James's Church, Whitehaven this morning.)

If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn't go and look at horses. They'd sit in their studies and say to themselves, "what would I do if I were a horse?" (Ronald Coase, speech to the "International Society of New Institutional Economics" in 1999. He said he was quoting fellow economist Ely Devons who reportedly said this in a meeting.)

I was amused to see in the Telegraph here an article by Alice Philipson about how the "Translation Table " which sets out the difference between what British people say, what we mean, and what non-Brits may think they hear, has apparently become an internet hit, appearing in a large number of blogs and online articles. Ms Philipson has not been able to track down the author of the table. I know that it is at least nine years old. I remember first seeing a table very similar to this in about 2004, which appeared in the Economist at that time, and that my then boss had a printout of the table above her desk. (I was working in BT Global Services at the time and both of us often had to deal with people from other countries, so not being misunderstood by non Brits was rather important.) Don't know whether this blog was one of the "number of blogs" Alice Philipson was talking about - I published a version in July 2012 - but anyway here is my table aga...

Grant Shapps, Conservative party co-chairman, sent a letter out today with this strong attack on the Labour party's latest proposal to spend more taxpayer's money, at a time when the lack of money is forcing cuts in public services, on support for political parties. He writes ... "This week it was revealed that Ed Miliband wants hardworking taxpayers to finance the Labour Party. He has been too weak to stand up to Len McCluskey and his union paymasters – and as a result, he is now asking hardworking taxpayers to bail him out. He’s proposed a £5,000 cap on political donations, which would mean massively increasing taxpayer funding of political parties. He wants YOU to pay for his spin doctors, his speechwriters, his conferences, his leaflets, and his party political broadcasts. We cannot let that happen. We cannot let the result of the trade union scandal be that every taxpayer in the country pays for the Labour Party. Please share this graphic on Twitter and ...

"I can't remember [of a good regulation]. Regulation of transport, regulation of agriculture -agriculture is a, zoning is z. You know, you go from a to z, they are all bad. There were so many studies, and the result was quite universal: The effects were bad" (Ronald Coase, in Reason , 1997)

Matthew Parris has an excellent article in the Spectator here in which he welcomes the decisions by David Cameron and Barak Obama to put to parliament and congress respectively the decision whether to respond with military strikes to Assad's apparent use of Sarin gas to murder 1,400 of his own civilians. As an opponent of military intervention, Parris also welcomes the result of the vote in the House of Commons and David Cameron's decision to respect it. He points some fairly gentle fun at those who would have preferred the opposite decision and are now reduced to complaining about how the decision was taken and why it produced the "wrong" result. "They complain about everything, in fact," he says, " but the awkward central truth. The awkward central truth is that Cameron failed to get Parliament’s approval because Cameron asked for Parliament’s approval. This they dare not criticise, and fall back on muttering that he asked Parliament in the w...

The results of yesterday's by-election in Yewdale ward, Carlisle, were as follows: Labour 716 votes (down 121 from 837 in May 2013 county election) Conservative 453 votes (up 9 from 444 in May and from third to second place) UKIP 257 votes (down 208 from 465 in May and from second to third place) Lib/Dem 31 votes (did not stand in May 2013) Green 14 votes (did not stand in May 2013) Labour hold,  majority 263 (down from 372 in May 2013) Congratulations to Conservative candidate Christine Finlayson on a well-fought campaign.

"In my youth it was said that what was too silly to be said may be sung. In modern economics it may be put into mathematics." (Ronald Coase, who died this week, from " The firm, the market and the law ." Pub. 1988)

The Times newspaper used to be known as “The Thunderer” because when they published a leader article or columnist’s piece which went for someone, they REALLY went for them. Today they’ve published one of the most devastating attacks on a British party leader which I have ever read. Today’s “Times” has an extraordinarily strongly worded – and in my opinion extremely powerful – attack on Ed Miliband as Leader of the opposition and as a potential Prime Minister from David Aaronovitch. The headline is " Ed Miliband is no leader. He is a vulture. " and it gets tougher from there. It makes the article in which the late Bernard Levin raided the Thesaurus for every insulting word he could find and hurled them all at John Major seem like a love pat by comparison. This article is behind a paywall, so you have to pay to read it, either by paying to visit the Times site or by purchasing today's "Dead Tree" copy. There are commentaries on the article by Fras...

Up early this morning on a visit to Carlisle to support Christine Finlayson, the hard-working Conservative candidate in today's Yewdale ward by-election.

"If you torture the data enough, nature will always confess" (Ronald Coase, nobel prize-winning economist who died this week.)

Ronald Coase, the nobel prize winner who died on Monday at the age of a hundred and two, was the greatest economist you've probably never heard of. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics because of his work on the theory of the firm. Amazingly, given the huge influence which modern corporations have on the economy, this had not been given the attention it deserves by economists before Coase put this right. He was also the author of a theory of how, in a much more perfect world, the market might act to control pollution - a theory which unfortunately has often been quoted without Coase's reservations about how real world considerations in general, and transactions costs in particular, are likely to cause reality to differ from the theory. The London-born economist who moved to America as a young man was also a successful advocate in that country of selling the radio spectrum by auction to potential radio operators rather than giving it to whoever the govern...

Cumbria Constabulary will gain 18 new officers this month and another 36 in October. The good news was announced at the first meeting in public of the county's police executive following the decision by Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes to hold these meetings in public. Welcoming the recruitment of 54 more officers, Richard Rhodes commented that the most common issue raised by members of the public was that they do not see police on their streets. “It is important we set out recruitment targets to the highest level to reassure the public," he added. In addition to the new starters there will also be a number of officers joining Cumbria Constabulary who are transferring from other forces. It was also explained at the meeting how a  £2.369m underspend is to be resolved. Ruth Hunter, the PCC’s Chief Finance Officer, revealed the current forecast net expenditure was £96.402m, compared with an approved budget of £98.771m. Assistant Chief Constable Michel...

“Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!” (Teddy Roosevelt) “If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”   ( Niccolò Machiavelli , The Prince )

Bernard Lawson, the current acting Chief Constable of Cumbria Police, has asked Stuart Hyde, who was temporary Chief Constable when he was suspended by the former Police authority last year, to return to work in his old job as Deputy Chief constable. He will retire at the end of December. Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner, Richard Rhodes, said he supported Mr Lawson's decision. Mr Lawson has issued a statement which reads as follows: Announcement from Temporary Chief Constable Bernard Lawson Temporary Chief Constable for Cumbria Constabulary, Bernard Lawson, said: “Following the publication last week of the Executive Summary into the conduct investigation and suspension of Temporary Chief Constable, Stuart Hyde, the Constabulary has had a great deal of information to digest and decisions to take in a relatively short space of time.   “This has been a difficult time for all concerned and I would like to pay tribute to the patience and unders...

Errors to be dangerous must have a great deal of truth mingled with them. It is only from this alliance that they can ever obtain an extensive circulation. (Sydney Smith)

UK manufacturing had the strongest growh for two and a half years in August according to a survey. The latest Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector jumped to 57.2. A figure above 50 indicates expansion. It marks the fifth consecutive month of expansion and is the highest reading since February 2011. Output and new orders rose at their fastest rate for 19 years. "The UK's factories are booming again," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit. "Orders and output are growing at the fastest rates for almost 20 years, as rising demand from domestic customers is being accompanied by a return to growth of our largest trading partner, the eurozone." The one weak point in the outlook was a "marked upsurge" in cost inflation as commodity prices continued to increase. In a separate survey, the EEF manufacturers' organisation said that it had ungraded its 2014 forecasts for manufacturing. Lee Hopley...